outside, in st. peter's square. and u.s. troops in afghanistan marked another holiday on the front lines with early christmas dinners. >> my family, however, this job comes with a price, many of the soldiers realize that price. even though we like to be with our families we realize the importance of what we're doing here and we believe in it. there also was another fatal shooting of an american in afghanistan today. a policewoman in kabul killed a u.s. civilian trainer who'd been working with the nato command. there've been more than 60 such "insider" attacks this year. this was the first committed by a woman. in syria, the u.n. envoy to syria met with president bashar al-assad in damascus, but he gave no sign of progress toward halting the civil war. lakhdar brahimi spoke with assad as part of a two-day visit. brahimi was appointed envoy in september, but he's made little apparent headway. the latest visit came a day after opposition groups reported a government air strike on a bakery killed at least 60 people. authorities in india restricted vehicle and railroad travel in new delhi to